The top Catholic official in the Nigerian state that was targeted by US missiles on Christmas has come out against the US strikes, according to a report from OSV News.
“Violence cannot defeat violence,” said Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, the head of the Diocese of Sokoto in northwestern Nigeria. He added that Christianity has survived oppression through resilience, not force, saying, “Let us heed those solemn words of Jesus to Peter: Put your sword back in its place.”
Kukah has previously criticized the narrative from the Trump administration that a Christian “genocide” is taking place in Nigeria, while also urging an end to the violence. “The genocide stuff has been escalated by the Trump administration,” Kukah told The Crux earlier this month.
“This is what they used to muscle their way in, but I no longer want to be dragged into this. It is a distraction. My position is simple: By whatever name, stop the killings,” the bishop added.
During a speech at the Vatican in October, Kukah noted that he could travel and celebrate Mass freely in Sokoto, a predominantly Muslim state. “If we were dealing with outright persecution of Christians on grounds of identity, both myself and my small flock would not exist,” he said.
“By whatever names we choose, the fact is that Nigerians are dying unacceptable deaths across the country. In many cases, they are targeted because of their beliefs but also because of their ethnicity. We are in the cusp of a weak state with a clear lack of capacity to arrest the descent into anarchy,” Kukah added.
The bishop has been harshly criticized by other Christians in Nigeria for his comments. Other Catholic leaders support the US strikes, including Auxiliary Bishop John Bogna Bakeni, who is based in Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria, where Nigerians face threats from Boko Haram and an ISIS affiliate known as the Islamic State West African Province (ISWAP).
“It’s long overdue,” Bakeni told OSV. “It is also good that the Nigerian government is open to international assistance in the face of overwhelming insecurity.”
President Trump said in his announcement of the strikes, which he later called a “Christmas present,” that they targeted “ISIS Terrorist Scum” who have “been targeting and viciously killing, primarily, innocent Christians, at levels not seen for many years, and even Centuries!”
Back in October, Massad Boulos, President Trump’s envoy for Arab and African affairs, a Lebanese-born Christian who has lived in Nigeria, met with Nigerian President Bola Tinubu and said that ISIS and Boko Haram kill more Muslims than Christians since they operate in predominantly Muslim areas. Last week, five Muslims were killed in a suicide attack in a mosque in Maiduguri, the capital of Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state.
Christians face other threats besides ISIS and Boko Haram, as Christian communities and churches in central Nigeria are frequently targeted by Fulani herdsmen, who are Muslim. Catholic priests are also frequently kidnapped for ransom in the country.
